Chapter 3: Eavesdroppers and Egos

After Dobby left his dorm, Harry grabbed his wand and cast a quick Tempus spell. This spell was a very simple, first year spell that was an alteration of sorts to the Lumos spell. If cast properly it would cause a small green light to appear just beyond the tip of the wand which, like Lumos, pretty much anyone could accomplish unless they were a full Squib. This light would be in the shape of a clock and, depending on how you envisioned the clock it could present itself in many different forms. Harry always envisioned a digital clock screen so, for him, the numbers would appear hovering before the tip of his wand. The numbers, currently, read 6:39. He reasoned that he had enough time to make a trip down to the hospital wing to check on Ginny and visit Hermione. He had visited Hermione at least once each day since she had been petrified, sometimes going so far as to sneak into the hospital wing after curfew under his invisibility cloak if he hadn't already found time during visiting hours. He snatched his cloak from his trunk and folded it up tight so it would fit in the pocket of his jeans.

'I'm keeping this with me from now on, it would have really come in handy down in the Chamber.'

He made his way down to the common room. Once he stepped off the landing of the stairs to the boy's dormitories he cast a glance around the common room. He was looking for a flash of red, Weasley hair. Not seeing it, and not noticing any of his other dorm mates, he walked across the common room to where the portrait hole was. He climbed through the portrait hole and made his way down to the hospital wing.

Part way there Peeves the poltergeist attempted to shove an upturned waste bin onto his head, but he managed to dodge the attempt by taking a quick detour through a shortcut behind a tapestry. He crossed paths with a few people from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor on his way down. Many of them gave him curious looks, however no one actively avoided him anymore. Everyone had stopped with the moronic claims that he was the Heir of Slytherin after Hermione had been petrified.

'Took my best friend getting attacked for them to believe me. Still, atleast it's over with'

He pushed open the entrance door to the hospital wing a few minutes later and was welcomed by Madam Pomfrey's stern voice.

"I expected to see you today, Mr. Potter," she said, frowning at him slightly, "The Headmaster told me about your incredible injury and the circumstances around your survival. I must admit, had Fawkes not saved you, there would have been very little I could have done for you."

Harry nodded and replied, "Yes, it was really lucky that Fawkes chose to come and help me. I'm actually here just to visit though."

"Miss Granger is still in the 3rd bed from the end of the hall. Please do not disturb any of the other patients in my ward," Madam Pomfrey said. This had been the same short speech she had given Harry every time he had visited since Hermione had been petrified.

"I was actually wondering if I could see Ginny Weasley as well, Madam Pomfrey?"

Madam Pomfrey's eyes softened and the corner of her lips twitched upward a fraction. "Ginevra is in the first bed, right behind me."

"Thank you," Harry said and he strode over to the bed she had indicated. The privacy curtains were drawn around the bed so Harry stepped up to the curtain and called out softly, "Ginny, can I come in?"

There was a gasp and a small shriek from behind the curtain, then before Harry could panic too much about scaring the poor girl she called out in a very squeaky voice, "You can!"

Harry pulled the edge of the curtain back slightly to slide around it. He glanced around the bed and saw a small pile of chocolate frogs, a bouquet of flowers, and a toilet seat sitting on her bedside table.

'Fred and George finally gave her that toilet seat they had promised her then?'

Ginny herself was sitting propped up on a few pillows wearing a flowery hospital gown. Her face was a bright crimson, and Harry could almost feel the heat radiating off of it.

"How are you feeling, Ginny?"

Ginny flushed even brighter red.

'How is that possible, she turns even redder than Ron.'

"I feel better," she muttered. She looked away quickly and tried to hide her face.

"Ginny," Harry sighed, "I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing. I was worried about you." That was all true enough, but Harry also wanted to make good on his idea of being a better friend to her so she didn't feel so alone. He understood what being alone felt like, after all he had no friends for the 10 years he had lived at the Dursleys. If he had playmates as a baby, he couldn't remember any of them. He just hoped Ginny could get over the obvious crush she had on him. Things would be much less awkward if she did.

"I'm ok," Ginny mumbled toward her side table.

"Ginny, please, I want to be a better friend to you. I know you don't want to relive anything from the past year but something Tom," Ginny shuddered violently at the name, "said to me keeps nagging at me."

Ginny finally turned around to face Harry but her face had gone very pale. It was such a stark contrast to the crimson it had been before that Harry almost called for Madam Pomfrey. She whispered, "What did he tell you?" She seemed horrified that Tom had said anything about her to Harry.

"He said that it was easy to, how do I put it, 'possess' you, like he did because you felt alone and isolated. He told me that you had written about how your brothers weren't talking to you much and you didn't feel like you had very many real friends. I want to be your friend because I know what it is like to be alone." Harry said all of this quietly but with conviction. As he spoke the color started returning to Ginny's face but she didn't flush red this time.

Ginny looked at Harry curiously for a few seconds then spoke, "What do you mean you know what it feels like to be alone?"

Harry sighed again. He really didn't want to tell the story of how his relatives had treated him to this point in his life but he also knew that if he didn't, she would never understand why he felt the way he did. Maybe he didn't have to tell the whole story to have her understand? "You see, Ginny, I was raised by my muggle relatives. They hate Magic and anyone or anything that uses it. They call it 'freakishness' what we can do. Their son, my cousin, also hates Magic and was told I was a 'freak'. He made sure that anyone who tried to be my friend growing up was scared off. After a couple of years of this, no one bothered anymore."

Ginny looked skeptical at first but she saw the truth in Harry's eyes and she covered her mouth with her hands while her eyes started tearing up, "Mum used to tell me bedtime stories about how you lived in a castle with all sorts of magical creatures as your friends. She said you used to go on adventures and save damsels," she blushed furiously again as she finished her little speech.

'Where the hell did Mrs. Weasley get that idea from?'

"None of that is true, in fact nothing could be further from the truth," Harry said with a little venom in his tone. "I didn't even know I was a wizard before I received my letter to Hogwarts. Do you remember how the twins and Ron got in trouble for coming to get me?" Ginny nodded, "Well, they stole your Dad's flying car and broke me out of my bedroom where my relatives had essentially imprisoned me."

Neither of the two kids realized that they were being overheard. The young blonde girl in the bed next to Ginny's was listening intently and was frowning as Harry was telling this story.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Ginny mumbled, "I guess I had this fantasy version of you in my head and never bothered to find out anything about the real you."

"It's ok, Ginny," Harry replied, "I didn't make the greatest effort to get to know you either." That was true but he withheld his reasoning. After all, he didn't think she wanted to hear how he saw her as a fangirl and wasn't too happy about being liked just because he was the Boy-Who-Lived. "If it's ok with you, how about we start fresh?" Ginny nodded vigorously and gave Harry a small smile. Harry stuck out his hand and said with a cheeky lopsided grin, "Hi, I'm Harry Potter, you must be the damsel I rescued last night."

Ginny flushed red for a second but she recovered and laughed after seeing the mischievous look Harry was wearing. She gave Harry her hand and Harry, thinking he would keep up the joke a bit, kissed the knuckles of her hand after she offered it to him. This caused Ginny to blush even deeper but she laughed even harder too.

"Ok, now you're just taking the piss," Ginny said after her laughing calmed down a bit.

"Just trying to ease the tension," Harry replied. It sounded like something one of the Weasley twins would say to make things less awkward. Ginny laughed again and gave Harry a real smile for the first time.

'She has a nice smile.'

Unbeknownst to the two, the blonde girl in the bed next door had heard the entire exchange and was rethinking a lot of what she heard about the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Well, I'm glad to see you are doing better Ginny," Harry told the small redhead, "If you ever need someone to talk to, just know you have a friend if you need one."

Ginny blushed again but nodded and smiled brightly at Harry. He waved goodbye and walked back around the privacy curtain, made sure it was closed, then walked a few beds down on the same side of the wing to where he knew Hermione was. He stepped around the curtain and pulled up the chair next to her bed.

"Hey, Hermione," Harry said softly. He wasn't even sure she could hear anything that he was saying. Madam Pomfrey wasn't sure either, petrification wasn't something that happened very often in the magical world and there weren't a lot of case studies about it. "You were right, the monster in the Chamber was a basilisk."

The young blonde, now a couple of beds down, was still able to hear everything being said even with how softly Harry was speaking. She had to stifle a gasp at what she was hearing. She covered her mouth with her hands and tried not to even breathe loudly. She didn't want to miss a word of what Harry Potter was going to say next.

"Tom Riddle was the one opening the Chamber of Secrets. He was using his diary to possess Ginny in order to do it. He was stealing the life force from her. When I got to the Chamber he was almost fully human again. He told me he was a 'memory' but I think Dumbledore suspects it was more than that. Worst still, he showed me how he turned his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, into his current name, Lord Voldemort."

Again the young blonde almost gasped out loud. Harry had faced You-Know-Who, again? She had heard rumors about what had happened the year prior and if they could be believed this would now make three times Harry had faced him and survived.

"Worst yet," Harry continued in almost a whisper. The young blonde had to strain to hear him. "He called out the basilisk and it almost killed me. I managed to stab it through its mouth and into its brain, I think, but it also stabbed me in the arm with a fang. The only reason I am still here is because Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, showed up in the Chamber and cried onto the wound. Apparently, that's the only cure to a basilisk's venom."

The young blonde was speechless. Not only did Harry kill a basilisk, but he survived being bitten by it as well? Who was this kid, a reincarnation of Merlin himself?

"Anyway, Ginny is ok, she is a couple of beds down from you resting. I'm fine as well. From what I hear, you will be too in just a couple of days. I can't wait to tell you in person that you were right after all. I couldn't have done any of it without you."

Madam Pomfrey came bustling around the curtain at that point, "Mr. Potter, visiting hours are closing soon. I must insist you head back to your dormitory."

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," Harry said. He gave Hermione's hand a squeeze, then made his way out of the hospital wing and back up to his dorm.

When he got back to the common room, he again looked for Ron. Still not seeing him he trudged up to his dorm hoping to find him there. His luck finally turned when he spotted Ron sitting on his four-poster bed staring at his broken wand.

"Mate, you ok?" Harry asked as he approached Ron's bed. Ron looked up at Harry and grinned, but Harry thought it looked a little forced.

"Yeah, perfect," Ron said, with false cheer. "Sorry I left you up here for dinner. I got up around 4 and went to play quidditch with Seamus and Dean. I checked on Ginny before dinner, she looks better. "

"She does, I just got back from seeing her and Hermione," Harry said. He noticed Ron's smile faded slightly when he mentioned Ginny. "Look, mate, I wasn't trying to call you a bad brother or anything last night. I just thought you would like to know how Ginny felt."

"Why does it matter so much to you?" Ron asked in a louder voice. Harry felt his blood heating up again.

"Because she is your sister, and you are my friend," Harry responded in confusion.

"Yes, but why do you care more about her feelings than mine if I'm your best mate?" Ron spat.

'Why does it have to be a compitition?'

"I don't," Harry retorted. He was trying very hard to keep his temper under control but this was the second time in as many nights that Ron had spouted off at him and it was getting more difficult by the second. "I care about both of you. I may not know her very well but that doesn't mean I just don't care. How can you not care? Did you even talk to her today?"

"It's not that I don't care," Ron said, exasperated. "And I didn't have time to talk to her before dinner. I checked in on her and saw she looked better so I left it at that, besides Percy, Fred, and George are also here at Hogwarts so I don't see why it's my responsibility to make sure Ginny is doing ok and has someone to talk to."

'Your sister isn't your responsibility?!'

Harry glared at Ron for a solid minute before speaking again. He wanted to make sure Ron understood exactly what he was saying when he said this. "Ron, I already told you that I would give anything to have the family you have. Even though I never had a chance at having siblings, I know for sure that I wouldn't just ignore them. Especially a younger one. I didn't have any friends or siblings to talk to until I met you, but now I'm beginning to wonder if you are the type of friend I want to have knowing that you would leave your own sister completely alone with no one to turn to simply because it's not 'your responsibility'. Yes, we ran off to save her life," Harry said quickly when Ron tried to cut him off, knowing he was going to bring it up, "but that may not have even been necessary if you had given her the time of day at any other point this year."

By the time Harry was finished, Ron was a shade of red that Harry had never seen before on him.

'That's almost the same color Vernon turns when he's about to hit me.'

"You know what, Potter?" Ron shouted, "you don't get to tell me how to live my life. I get enough lectures out of my brothers, I don't need them from a self righteous prat like you." Ron slammed the curtains closed around his bed with enough force that the curtain rod almost fell off. Harry could still hear Ron muttering incoherently behind the curtains. Harry was frozen to the spot, partly out of shock at potentially losing his first friend in the wizarding world, and partly in disbelief at the pure immaturity Ron had just displayed.

'There is no way I'm in the wrong here.'

Harry finally broke his stance and trudged over to his own bed. He felt miserable. He hadn't wanted things to turn into a fight, he had started out apologizing after all. But, a small part of him was glad this had happened now. He had seen Ron for who he was, self centered and egotistical. He remembered back to first year, how Ron had treated Hermione horribly simply because she was smarter than him. Even this year, when Ron and Hermione were 'friends' he still tended to treat her badly and not give her the respect she deserved.

'How long would it have been before he turned on me out of jealousy or because things were too hard for him by my side? After all, I'm not 'his responsibility'.'

Harry changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed. He may have only woken up a few hours ago but the fight with Ron had taken a lot out of him and he didn't want to think about it anymore. Soon enough, he drifted off to sleep where he didn't have to think.